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That 1987 F150 I worked on last week had some weird wiring I'd never seen before | Auto Mechanics - Freelance Forum - The Community for Independent Professionals

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robin896•5mo ago

That 1987 F150 I worked on last week had some weird wiring I'd never seen before

I was doing a tune up on an old F150 for a customer near Austin and when I popped the hood, the previous owner had spliced like 8 different aftermarket add-ons into the factory harness. There was a cheap amp, some off brand fog lights, and even a trailer brake controller all tapped into the same 12v line. No fuses, no relays, just twisted wires and electrical tape. I spent 3 hours just tracing and cleaning that mess before I could even touch the motor. Has anyone else run into a total rats nest like that and just wanted to walk away from the whole job?

4 comments

4 Comments

david9205mo ago

Did you happen to find any old lamp cord wire in there too? I've seen people use that for trailer wiring and it's always a fire waiting to happen... The worst one I ran into was a 90s Bronco where they had wired a subwoofer amp directly into the ignition switch harness with lamp cord and no fuse at all. The insulation was already melted in a few spots from the draw. Took me half a day to undo that and replace the burned up switch connector. Sometimes you gotta wonder if people just hate their trucks or if they really think electrical tape is magic.

lucashenderson5mo ago

Won't lie I've been guilty of using lamp cord for a quick fix on my old truck once. Melted a hole right through the insulation and it smelled like burning plastic for a week before I learned my lesson. Electrical tape is definitely magic though right?